| Difficulty | IV |
| Length | 2.5 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 75 fpm |
| Gauge | Clear Creek at Lilly Bridge Near Lancing, Tn |
| Flow Rate as of 2 hours | 137 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | July 15, 2026 |
Little Clear Creek is, like so many things in life, short but sweet. A flattish paddle leads a few miles down to where Little Clear encounters the more resistant sandstone layers of the Rockcastle Conglomerate, and a reckoning occurs. Over the next roughly half-mile, the creek drops over 5 distinct drops in a gorgeous little plateau canyon, with all the aesthetics and fun whitewater one could hope for. And just like that, it's over, and the wide-eyed paddler finds themselves being whisked down Clear Creek's Lilly Rapid, at higher speed than usual, and to the take-out. Little Clear offers up an all-afternoon mission for aspiring creek boaters wanting to project out their first taste of the harder side of the Obed drainage, an all day lap-fest for others, or the wettest, steepest way into a high water Lilly to Nemo after-work run for dialed in creekers who call the Knoxville area home. Regardless of how you engage, Little Clear is a special place worth spending some time in.
Below the put-in bridge the stream is pretty flat, and for the first two miles, island splits and trees are the matter of concern. A tributary on the left followed by a beautiful river-left bluff with water dripping right into the creek signals that the action will start soon. Nice Class II-III- bedrock slides and chokes lead into a hard bend to the right. Here, where a landslide from 2003 once created a mandatory portage, is the fast, blind entrance to Triple Drop, the first and biggest on the creek. Scout the entire series for wood from the right. Triple Drop proper is best run left of center off a 4 foot ledge that claps onto a slide. The slide pushes into the right wall before fanning back out and falling over a final 4 foot ledge. Stay center or left here, as the bottom right has an undercut pocket that doesn't kiss and tell. Downstream Class II-III boogie that can collect wood leads to a small eddy above a 3 foot ledge. The boulder upstream river-left of this ledge is very pin-pron
...Park upstream river-left side of Hwy 62 Bridge. Stay on right of way, and do not block access to adjacent field. Walk right of way down upstream side of bridge, then cut upstream slightly and slide in off a floodplain and into the water just downstream of the visual gauge.
Triple drop consists of a 4 foot drop onto a low angle slide that falls into the right wall before fanning out and dropping another 4 feet. This whole rapid bends left severely and the bottom cannot be seen from the top. The only real hazard is a bad pocket/undercut on the right at the bottom. Run left of center at top, and let the reactionaries coming off the right wall help you drive back left for the finish to stay clear of the pocket.
After some Class II-III boogie, this rapid falls left out of a cobble bar and into a boulder on the left that is a pin. Drive just right of it, then fall back left to get a good lift on the 3 foot ledge just below. The right at the bottom is a little junky.
Most of the water in Novacaine starts left, but falls back right into a dangerous rock pile with a pin in the middle, pinch sieve left, and undercut on the right. Folks used to seal launch off the big rock on the right to portage, but the undercut just downstream is often full of wood and has opened up more in recent years. Walk left, or run the incredibly narrow drive hard left at the top and berth through the tiny slot and fall 4 feet into the pull below. From here avoid being siphoned right into the main line, and pull a powerful gorilla wheelchair move up and over some rocks and back into the flow on the right, just below the hazard. As you approach from above, hop out early on the left, or run the entrance hard right to left to eddy above or run the sneak.
Just below Novacaine you'll run a small but sticky ledge right above a 6 foot ledge. A giant boulder overhangs from the left, and at the bottom a big boulder on the right creates an undercut pocket hole. Run the ledge slightly left of center with a right stroke and slight left angle. The hole is stickiest back and to your right as you skip through.
Just below Boofalicious hop out on the left and walk down to verify that Oh Yeah is clear of wood. Here the creek drives towards the right bank, rides up on a slab, and then falls 6 feet down and to the left into a funky slot. The move is to drive hard right up on to the slab and boof right. Land in the eddy on the right for extra credit, or finish direct. Either way duck the overhang just below. Eddy left for an easy walk back up for another lap!
Little Clear drops right into Clear Creek above Lilly Rapid. Enjoy this swollen Class III wave train and eddy out on the left just below and climb up to the parking area downstream river-left of the bridge.
Mar 22, 2020
Me and Brandon ran Little Clear on 3-21-20 and found that within the first mile there were a couple areas that had trees down across the creek. We went at a low flow and had no problems portaging but at a higher flow it could be more challenging. -Dave
Apr 15, 2006
Brandon runs the third drop of Triple Drop.
The boulder on river right has a cave under it.
Jan 17, 2005
Checking the Level: Walk straight down the left side of the bridge. You will see a small footpath leading straight down to the creek. Carry a paddle down with you. From the edge of the creek where the footpath ends, you want to have a full paddle blade in depth for a minimum level. When I say this, I mean that it has to cover the ENTIRE blade and should be lapping up on the shaft itself. Again, this is a good minimum level, but an inch or two can make all the difference on this run.
Sep 11, 2004
Ran Little Clear 9/8/2004 as Clear was peaking at 1600 cfs. Little Clear was medium+. The mandatory portage above triple drop is now clear. There is a fair bit of wood in the good section unfortunately. All of it was visible from upstream. There is a pine tree across the top of Oh Yeah!. We made it worse by trying to move it. Someone could cut it out with a Sven saw on a future run, or just chop out the whole run.
Dec 16, 2002
From Karl Whipp:
We ran Little Clear Creek this past weekend (12/16/02). What a great trip! The Emory @ Oakdale gauge was 10,000 and the Clear Creek @ Lilly Bridge gauge was 2,200. This was a great level. I took GPS readings at the put in and at the take out. The enitre run contained 164' of gradient. With this being a run of about 3 miles total and the first two miles being completely flat, it means that all of the 164' is in the 1/2 mile steep stretch (the last 1/4 mile has substantially less gradient ending on Clear Creek). The majority of this gradient lies in 4 main drops. From the top of the first big one to the bottom of the last big one is, in my opinion, about1/2 mile. This puts the steep section of the run in the 190-200fpm range over that 1/2 mile.
With a good guide, the entire run takes about 45 minutes. You can get a couple runs in in a days time.
The first two miles contains a few downed trees, all of which we limboed.
The first major drop is a triple drop of 30' or so that one guy in our group named 'Leap of Faith'. We're not sure that this triple drop really has a name, so we're calling it 'Leap of Faith'. It is signified by being the first real horizon line on the run, which is in a left hand bend in the creek. You cannot see the bottom from the top, nor can you see the top from the bottom. Enter the first ledge 3/4 left and drop over a 5 foot drop onto a slide. Dont pencil and dont land flat...about 70* is perfect. Stay 3/4 left with your bow pointing toward about 11:00 as the slide wants to push right. You should hit the bottom of the slide close to center where you will drop off a 4-6 foot ledge with water pouring in hard from the right through a sluiceway, which will kick you away from the undercut wall on the right. Brace into the water pouring in from the right if nessecary. Now your on another slide above the third drop, which is an easy ledge of about 4 feet into a pool. It is best to boof this one as it may turn into a bad hole with a little more water. Better safe than sorry. Once you're at the bottom, be sure to look back upstream....its quite impressive!
The next drop follows quickly and should definately be scouted and likely portaged. This one too is signified by a horizon line and has a huge rock on river right, forcing all the water into a left slot. Scout this one by eddying on the left immediately above the drop and getting out. There is a bad pinning rock right in the center of the first, main drop of an S-turn. If the pinning rock isnt enough, it is backed immediately by big undercut with all the water pushing directly into it, then exiting river right. We portaged left. At higher levels, this one may be runnable, but be aware of the hazards no matter.
Immediately below this portage is a small pool, drained by a 3' ledge into a pool, drained by a 8-10' ledge. Run the 8-10 footer (boofalicious), dead center for the super phat auto-boof into soft suds. Look for a very small curler at the lip in the center....that's your launch spot.
Up next is the last of the big ones. Again signified by a horizon line, this one reminded us a lot of the boof at National Falls on the Upper Yough, minus the really trashy pourover hole. You can scout from the center island if needed. There will be a small slot on river right, bordered on the right by a 45* sloping rock. Enter this one gingerly drifting right toward the slot and staying as high in the channel as possible while you line up. The key in this one is patience, not speed or power. As you approach the bend to the left through the slot, use a hard left stroke to drive up on the right side rock with 2:00 angle and start to slide your bow down the rock. As you come around the slot, you'll be thinking something like 'uuhhh, I wasnt expecting to be staring right at a boulder', but never fear, you wont make it far enough to piton it. At the lip, drop another hard left stroke for the big boof. If you hit it right, you'll boof like a champ. If you dont hit it right, you'll pencil in and go deeeep! Duck under the undercut right wall in the run out if needed and float out the back. It is an easy hike back to the top over the island in the center. We ran it several times. Fun, fun, fun stuff!
From here to Clear Creek is tight, technical boulder field stuff, but everything is in view. Read and run your way to the confluence and on down to the take out at Lilly Bridge, or, head on down for a high water run on Clear Creek and the Obed to Nemo on the Emory. If you opt for the long run, beware cuz Clear Creek and the Obed will be CRANKIN!
